What is the Best Way to Get Rid of Pesticides on Fruit?

Recently Delhi High Court took Suo Moto cognizance of a report by an NGO which outlined our high consumption of pesticides. The report mentioned that Indian farmers used pesticides - 750 times the permissible limits by European standards. This simply means that you are consuming 750 times of what is conidered ok in a large part of the world. Amercian standards are even stricter. You can well imagine what these pesticides are doing to our bodies. A high incidence of cancer is directly related to consumption of these harmful chemicals.

Clearly, there is not much we can do about reducing the use of pesticides by farmers. Nor can we stop eating fresh produce. So how can we eliminate pesticides from our diet?

Recent research has shown that washing fresh vegetables and fruit with baking soda can eliminate 80-90% of the toxic chemicals. All you need to do is wash the produce in a baking soda-water mix for 15-20 minutes. This can remove even the chemicals that have begun to seep into the fruit or vegetable.

It is also worth mention that skin of fruit and vegetables should not be consumed. Till a few decades ago we were told that an apple's skin is the most nutritious part of the fruit. But today, it is the part that has highest concentration of toxins. So it is best to peel all fruit and vegetables efore consumption.